There is no such thing as Englishness or Scottishness, according to the
Cabinet minister charged with holding the Union together

There is no such thing as Englishness or Scottishness, according to the Cabinet minister charged with holding the Union together.

Alistair Carmichael, the Scottish secretary, said that instead there were different sets of values held by people living in around the UK.

Mr Carmichael was pressed at a Parliamentary Press Gallery lunch to explain why Prime Minister David Cameron was refusing to debate head to had with Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister ahead of September’s Scottish independence referendum.

He explained that this was because Mr Salmond was trying to present a “false choice” between being Scottish or being English.

He said: “Alex Salmond said this was a referendum that would have to be made in Scotland and carried out in Scotland.

“He has got his own tactical reasons for wanting to debate David Cameron.

“He is trying to present this as some sort of contest between Scottish values and English values and in fact the truth of the matter is there is no such thing as homogenous Scottish or homogenous English values.

“There is a different range of values across different parts of Scotland and of course different parts of England.

“But optically it suits Alex Salmond to try to display this as some sort of false choice.

"It is interesting that tactically he is desperate to keep debating the debate rather than having the debate itself – so I think that is a minor distraction.”

Mr Carmichael conceded that some people might see it as “unfairness” that 1.15million Scots living outside Scotland will not get a vote.

He said: “Was it fair not to allow expatriate Scots [to vote in the referendum]? Well, the terms of the Edinburgh agreement were that the referendum has to be fair, legal and decisive.

“On that basis it was quite proper I think to draw the franchise on the same basis as the franchise that elects us here and that elects the Scottish parliament which was the catalyst for this referendum taking place now.

“Yes – perhaps in life you can always find elements of what some people see as unfairness."

Lawyers warned at the weekend that that a decision to deny exiled Scots a vote in the referendum was unlawful.

Aidan O'Neill, an expert in EU law, said the decision has "good prospects" of being overturned in a judicial review on the grounds it violates Scottish expatriates' right to freedom of movement under European law.